Tell me about Larry Clark

[trotchky]

Bully - Great!
Ken Park - Masterpiece!
Kids - Sucks!

Where do I find more films like the first two? Kids is somewhat odd because pairing Clark with Harmony Korine would seem like an unfuckupable project, and I guess they pulled it together with Ken Park, but still.

I have Another Day In Paradise and Teenage Caveman on my queue but I want MORE. Give me MORE! Who are some filmmakers with thematic "SLASH" aesthetic values that are like Clark's? And, obviously, who are good? Any age, any country (duh), it doesn't matter--I just want more of this shit, and fast.

[Ezee E]

You may be interested in his short in Destricted in which he casts someone to do a porno film.

[Qrazy]

Hmmm interesting I've only seen Kids and I agree that it sucks so I didn't watch any of the others. Maybe I'll check out one of the other two.

[balmakboor]

Larry Clark, quite frankly, creeps me out. He's like a pedophile with a camera.

Harmony Korine, on the other hand, is one of our true originals. I dig his stuff. I finally get to see Trash Humpers this weekend. But goddamn, Gummo is such a strangely beautiful film. One of my all time favorites.

[Ezee E]

Haven't seen Ken Park, and I don't know if I want to.

Kids was one of those movies that I was impressed with when I was in my teens but have grown to hate on a rewatch.

Bully, while always uncomfortable to watch, is still topnotch.

[B-side]

I expected more remarks about how he's a pedophile or some other silliness.

I like him. Ken Park is my favorite thing he's done. Still need to see Kids. Hated Wassup Rockers. Bully is good.

[Pop Trash]

Like verite JD movies? Or just raw/extreme subject matters? Most things by Cathrine Breillat or Gasper Noe maybe? Todd Solondz?

Christine F is a pretty harrowing German teen film. Bit of a proto Kids.

The "edge" duo of JD flicks are pretty awesome: Over the Edge and River's Edge.

[trotchky]

Like verite JD movies? Or just raw/extreme subject matters? Most things by Cathrine Breillat or Gasper Noe maybe? Todd Solondz?

Christine F is a pretty harrowing German teen film. Bit of a proto Kids.

The "edge" duo of JD flicks are pretty awesome: Over the Edge and River's Edge.

No, not just extreme subject matter. Not like Noe or Solondz. As much as I like Noe, he's too artsy, and as for Solondz, I find him smarmy and lacking artistic integrity.

I gotta admit I have no clue what "verite JD" is but I'll look into those two movies.

What I'm really looking for is "outsider art," I guess, and more specifically films about marginalized groups of people whose lives would normally never be "upgraded" to that status of "art".

Both Noe and Solondz are aware of themselves as capital-a "Artists," and what's worse about Solondz is his smug, dishonest showmanship. Larry Clark's poetry, on the other hand, comes across as accidental, like some piece of trash that actually looks kind of beautiful from the right angle.

I'm more after, say, a Killer of Sheep than a Do the Right Thing, for example, although even Burnett's film (much as I absolutely love it) is a little too...aware of itself.

I want films with the balls to show fucked up people and fucked up situations and fucked up places but without any condescension or pretensions to being important or socially relevant. "A wake up call to the world" was how Kids was marketed, and that's kind of exactly what I don't want.

I'll look into Christine F -- thanks for the rec.

[DavidSeven]

What I'm really looking for is "outsider art," I guess, and more specifically films about marginalized groups of people whose lives would normally never be "upgraded" to that status of "art".

Both Noe and Solondz are aware of themselves as capital-a "Artists," and what's worse about Solondz is his smug, dishonest showmanship. Larry Clark's poetry, on the other hand, comes across as accidental, like some piece of trash that actually looks kind of beautiful from the right angle.

I'm more after, say, a Killer of Sheep than a Do the Right Thing, for example, although even Burnett's film (much as I absolutely love it) is a little too...aware of itself.

I want films with the balls to show fucked up people and fucked up situations and fucked up places but without any condescension or pretensions to being important or socially relevant. "A wake up call to the world" was how Kids was marketed, and that's kind of exactly what I don't want.


You a fan of Buffalo 66'?

[trotchky]

You a fan of Buffalo 66'?

Yeah, man. Love it. Something like that would be pretty neat.

[Boner M]

I want films with the balls to show fucked up people and fucked up situations and fucked up places but without any condescension or pretensions to being important or socially relevant. "A wake up call to the world" was how Kids was marketed, and that's kind of exactly what I don't want.
The Aussie junkie flick Pure Shit is a good example of this. It's practically a madcap comedy.

nnec4491ZFo

[balmakboor]

I'll second the rec of Over the Edge.:pritch:

Two documentaries about teenage/pre-teenage characters that you might like are Streetwise and Come on Children. I especially like Streetwise. It is a verite portrait of Seattle street kids that has long been one of my favorite films. It was turned into a fictional film by the same director titled American Heart starring Jeff Bridges and Edward Furlong. That film isn't as good, but it is also worth seeking out. It's almost the definition of buried treasure.

Btw, take my "pedophile" comment with a grain of salt. I've actually found as much to like as dislike in the two Clark films I've seen, Kids and Bully. But, having two, now teenage daughters myself, his sneakily gratuitous shots up a girl's skirt in Bully crossed the line for me.

And it's a fine line. I love the work of Gus Van Sant, while he obviously feels an attraction to the beautiful teenage boys, often street kids, that he frequently features. I've just never found anything in his work that felt similarly smarmy.

[Pop Trash]

I'll second the rec of Over the Edge.:pritch:


Yeah Over the Edge rules so fucking hard. I've always wanted to see Streetwise, but don't think it's been put out on DVD (or it's OOP). Criterion should release that.

Oh and Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains is pretty great for a female-type version of Over the Edge. I've heard Foxes (with a young Jodie Foster and Cherry Currie from The Runaways) is pretty cool but haven't seen it. I think it's Adrian Lyne's first film.

Oh and verite JD=verite juvenile delinquent flicks. Or "teen rebels" movies. I took an entire class on them once.

[number8]

I like Bully a lot, that's probably his best. Teenage Caveman is fun. Ken Park's all right. The rest I can take it or leave it. No desire to ever see Kids again.

He's always struck me as a half-assed Alan Clarke, though.

[balmakboor]

I've always wanted to see Streetwise, but don't think it's been put out on DVD (or it's OOP). Criterion should release that.

It was on DVD. That's how I saw it. Or was it VHS? Can't remember for sure.

[eternity]

Larry Clark, quite frankly, creeps me out. He's like a pedophile with a camera.
It's kind of funny how he has this reputation, I think. His work has pretty much been the same since he was 17 years old, and back then, nobody viewed him as a pedophile. Now, since he still produces the same work but he's an old geezer, he's a creeper.

You're right, but...I don't know, it's not that easy for me to discount his work because of this.

[megladon8]

I've only seen Ken Park and I greatly disliked it.

It was creepy, exploitative and pornographic. I didn't see anything artful or meaningful in the incredibly graphic nature of the sex scenes. It seemed quite masturbatory.

And if that in itself was the "point" then it was one of the most unnecessary films ever made, since I can get free porn with a click of the mouse.

[Watashi]

Ken Park will always remain the worst film I have ever seen.

[eternity]

Ken Park will always remain the worst film I have ever seen.
:frustrated:

[endingcredits]

But goddamn, Gummo is such a strangely beautiful film. One of my all time favorites.

Gummo beautiful? That's the craziest shit I've ever heard.

[eternity]

Gummo beautiful? That's the craziest shit I've ever heard.It's beautiful in how filthy it is. A satisfying contradiction.

[endingcredits]

It's beautiful in how filthy it is. A satisfying contradiction.

Nah. It's one of the ugliest movies I've ever scene.

[B-side]

Gummo is awesome. It's a fact. Check Wikipedia.

[Ezee E]

Gummo is awesome. It's a fact. Check Wikipedia.
I went to verify. It has now been debunked due to it, in fact, not being awesome.

[endingcredits]

Gummo is awesome. It's a fact. Check Wikipedia.

Regardless, a motion picture featuring disfigured, racist, inbred white-trash youths torturing cats doesn't fall under my definition of beautiful, strange or not.

[trotchky]

The Aussie junkie flick Pure Shit is a good example of this. It's practically a madcap comedy.

Hey thanks, it took hours but I finally found and was able to watch this. It really hit home. Great movie.


Ken Park will always remain the worst film I have ever seen.

Coming from you that's the best possible endorsement of the film I can imagine. And I'm really not trying to be rude, I respect that you and I have different tastes, seriously. It's just that, you hating the film....kinda makes it a film worth watching, in my opinion. You dig?

[B-side]

Wats' reasoning behind disliking it would only make reasonable people wanna see it more.

[trotchky]

Regardless, a motion picture featuring disfigured, racist, inbred white-trash youths torturing cats doesn't fall under my definition of beautiful, strange or not.

Bunny Boy is beautiful.

[balmakboor]

Gummo beautiful? That's the craziest shit I've ever heard.

All of the scenes of the girls alone together and of bunny boy (except for the last shot) are beautiful. The scenes of the cat killing culture are deliberating ugly. The final shot brings the two together with bunny boy carrying a dead cat toward the camera and holding it in closeup. Beauty in the film comes from moments of characters caring for each other. Ugliness comes from people competing against each other. This is why I find the kitchen scene the centerpiece of the film. Rednecks hold arm wrestling contests and as the losers grow in number, things get uglier and the people in the room grow more and more divided. Then, one helps another work out his frustrations by beating up a chair. It all reminds me of Robin Wood's dream of a masculinist/capitalist society being replaced by a feminist/socialist one.

[balmakboor]

By the way, I watched Trash Humpers yesterday and I again found much strange beauty. For a film that purports to be -- and is usually described as being -- a randon series of deteriorating VHS images, it has a marvelous sense of composition and structure. I don't quite know what to make of it yet. I know I liked it. I watched with a mixture of fascination, laughter, and occasional boredom. I'll watch it again in a bit. It does prove even more definitively than Gummo that Even Dwarfs Started Small has had a huge impact on Korine's sensibilities.

[eternity]

I feel like I agree with Watashi quite a bit because we have many of the same offbeat likes/dislikes, yet we disagree entirely on Ken Park. One of the best of the last decade, for sure.

[number8]

Hey, wasn't Ziggy Sobotka in Ken Park? (too lazy to IMDB)

[eternity]

Hey, wasn't Ziggy Sobotka in Ken Park? (too lazy to IMDB)

Yes.

[balmakboor]

Just watched it again and I can now say that Trash Humpers is some kind of masterpiece.

[trotchky]

Trash Humpers is glorious.


I feel like I agree with Watashi quite a bit because we have many of the same offbeat likes/dislikes, yet we disagree entirely on Ken Park. One of the best of the last decade, for sure.

If my tone with Watashi was smug it's because he came into my thread to make a dismissive comment about a movie I love. I wonder how he would react if I went into a Disney recommendations thread or something and called Finding Nemo a piece of shit. Wait, no I don't.

[Boner M]

Think I'll watch Trash Humpers this week.

[Pop Trash]

Didn't Claire Denis' cinematographer shoot Gummo? Not a huge fan of it, but it did have some striking shots.

[Idioteque Stalker]

Wait, no one likes Kids? It's the only Clark film I've seen, but I loved it. It seemed like his perfect film from what I know about the guy (I found it hilarious/disturbing, beautiful/despicable, etc.) so I figured it was pointless to go any further, but this thread has changed my mind. Bully up soon as a result.

[trotchky]

Tarnation doesn't exactly fit the obstructions I laid out before but it's a pretty awesome movie and definitely vibes with the kind of shit I'm seeking...

[balmakboor]

Sandy and Todd talk Harmony Korine (http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/7967727/)

[Boner M]

Trash Humpers was indeed glorious. A perfect paean to the basest forms of creative expression, the nostalgic textures of shitty VHS (those streetlight flares! *swoon*); the perfect blend of vaudeville and video art. Korine has followed his puerile instincts to their logical endpoint, and has made his first film that I can wholeheartedly endorse.

[B-side]

I'm glad you enjoyed it, Boner.